How much should I trim before flower?

[Pangioti]

My first crop, I have (10) 2.5ft ladies in a 4x4x8 tent . I have not trimmed basically anything but a few lower leaves. I've read where many people trim their plants way back - so before I do anything - I wanted to run it by you helpful people as to what you do to prep for flower. Here's what things are looking like:

 

[cann.i.bliss]

Looking very nice I would definitely remove some of the shade leaves to let some light into the lower stems probably want to give it a few days to a week after prunning before flowering, pruning is best done in the early stages of growth to optimize yield so you wouldent want to do any serious prunning now some leaf removal would be fine tho

 

[Pangioti]

Looking very nice I would definitely remove some of the shade leaves to let some light into the lower stems probably want to give it a few days to a week after prunning before flowering, pruning is best done in the early stages of growth to optimize yield so you wouldent want to do any serious prunning now some leaf removal would be fine tho

Thanks for the advise, it's pretty much on track with what I was thinking. I've been in the mindset of letting them do what they do and don't do any messing around with them.

 

[cann.i.bliss]

Yeah well they are looking very healthy and lush so your doing a good job dude!! Hope you have some killer yields!

 

[Pangioti]

Yeah well they are looking very healthy and lush so your doing a good job dude!! Hope you have some killer yields!

Thanks - I appreciate that!

 

[st0wandgrow]

This is a topic that people disagree on. Personally, I don't remove any healthy leaves. They fuel the metabolic processes. The only thing I remove is lower branches/leaves that end up in the dirt and are worthless at the end of the cycle. Aside from that I leave them be.

Either way, those plants look nice an healthy. Great job!

 

[cann.i.bliss]

Yeah

This is a topic that people disagree on. Personally, I don't remove any healthy leaves. They fuel the metabolic processes. The only thing I remove is lower branches/leaves that end up in the dirt and are worthless at the end of the cycle. Aside from that I leave them be.

Either way, those plants look nice an healthy. Great job!

Yeah I totally understand what your saying the process of photosynthesis is only possible by light, the leaves use the energy of the light to convert nutrients into a suger the plant can use to eat but if by removing some bigger shade leaves you will be letting more light into some of the lower leaves its a bit of a debatable topic like you said

 

[st0wandgrow]

Yeah

Yeah I totally understand what your saying the process of photosynthesis is only possible by the leads using the energy of the light to convert nutrients into a suger the plant can use to eat but if by removing some bigger shade leaves you will be letting more light into some of the lower leaves its a bit of a debatable topic like you said

I use a tomato cage so that I can bend branches and tuck them under the rungs of the cage, and allow light to penetrate further down. It seems to work well, and I don't have to remove any leaves or branches.

 

[nova1992]

From my experience, removing "shade leaves" lowers yield. I do what st0w does and trim the lower, weaker branches off. I dont use a cage though and my plant that i didnt remove leaves from had a bigger yield than the one where i did remove leaves so now i just leave them

 

[Pangioti]

This is a topic that people disagree on. Personally, I don't remove any healthy leaves. They fuel the metabolic processes. The only thing I remove is lower branches/leaves that end up in the dirt and are worthless at the end of the cycle. Aside from that I leave them be.

Either way, those plants look nice an healthy. Great job!

Thanks - I have been educating myself constantly and following the advice you gave me a few months back (don't overthink it) and it seems to work.

I made a clone area but have not equipt it yet - I need to pull some clones before I flip. How do you do your clones?

 

[st0wandgrow]

Thanks - I have been educating myself constantly and following the advice you gave me a few months back (don't overthink it) and it seems to work.

I made a clone area but have not equipt it yet - I need to pull some clones before I flip. How do you do your clones?

I'm sold on the aero cloners. I switched to peat plugs (root riot) and it added an extra week on to the time it took to get a good root mass. The downside to the aero cloners is that if you lose electricity you could wipe out an entire batch of clones. If you aren't in a hurry to get clones, then the peat root plugs are cheaper and work fine. I have a perpetual garden so I need rooted clones ready in a 2 week range so the aero cloner is my go to.

 

[Pangioti]

I'm sold on the aero cloners. I switched to peat plugs (root riot) and it added an extra week on to the time it took to get a good root mass. The downside to the aero cloners is that if you lose electricity you could wipe out an entire batch of clones. If you aren't in a hurry to get clones, then the peat root plugs are cheaper and work fine. I have a perpetual garden so I need rooted clones ready in a 2 week range so the aero cloner is my go to.

I was thinking of getting or making an aero-cloner and some clonex - do you use a clone solution or just RO? Also, are you saying you use the peat plugs with the aero cloner? While I'm buggin you, what lighting do you use?

Thanks for all the info.

 

[st0wandgrow]

I was thinking of getting or making an aero-cloner and some clonex - do you use a clone solution or just RO? Also, are you saying you use the peat plugs with the aero cloner? While I'm buggin you, what lighting do you use?

Thanks for all the info.

I dip my cuts in to aloe gel, then straight in to the cloner. I add a little bit of silica (Pro-Tekt) to the reservoir too. No, I don't use the peat plugs with the cloner. That's an either/or deal. For lights I just have them under a 4 bulb incandescent ballast.

 

[cann.i.bliss]

I use a tomato cage so that I can bend branches and tuck them under the rungs of the cage, and allow light to penetrate further down. It seems to work well, and I don't have to remove any leaves or branches.

View attachment 3171597

Hell yeah good idea nice looking plant!! Been topped once?

 

[cann.i.bliss]

From my experience, removing "shade leaves" lowers yield. I do what st0w does and trim the lower, weaker branches off. I dont use a cage though and my plant that i didnt remove leaves from had a bigger yield than the one where i did remove leaves so now i just leave them

I can't wrap my head around how you had less of a yield by removing shade leaves? As all you would be doing is focussing more energy into the flowers and roots rather then sustaining bigger leaves? Topping works so well because you get multiple heads but it also spreads the plant letting precious light into the lower leaves can't understand how removing 10/15 bigger leaves to allow light acsess to 40-50 lower leaves can effect your yield negatively? I have always had much greater sucsess by prunning

 

[StanlySpedowski]

I can't wrap my head around how you had less of a yield by removing shade leaves? As all you would be doing is focussing more energy into the flowers and roots rather then sustaining bigger leaves? Topping works so well because you get multiple heads but it also spreads the plant letting precious light into the lower leaves can't understand how removing 10/15 bigger leaves to allow light acsess to 40-50 lower leaves can effect your yield negatively? I have always had much greater sucsess by prunning

Why do you think that the fan leaves use more energy than they collect, or think 3x the amount of smaller leaves farther away from your light source are more efficient at collecting energy than those 10-15?

You're removing large leaves that are already grown and dont require much maintenance. They are also usually closer to the light so they can collect stronger light which equals more energy for plant.

When a leaf collects light the plant takes that energy and distributes it to where it thinks it needs to go first. It doesn't take light in near a bud sight and then put all that energy in to that particular area of the plant.

The reason you see the lower buds form last is because the plant will always put energy in to the outer part first because that is the part exposed and more likely to collect pollen, nothing to do with amount of light that area is getting. The plant wants to reproduce first and foremost. They are not concerned about the thickness of your bud.

So the more energy the plant can collect the better your lower sites will grow because it will have more energy to distribute. You're 100% reducing your yield when you take off a bunch of the large fan leaves. Why dont you grow 2 plants of same strain and remove leaves on

 

[cann.i.bliss]

Why do you think that the fan leaves use more energy than they collect, or think 3x the amount of smaller leaves farther away from your light source are more efficient at collecting energy than those 10-15?

You're removing large leaves that are already grown and dont require much maintenance. They are also usually closer to the light so they can collect stronger light which equals more energy for plant.

When a leaf collects light the plant takes that energy and distributes it to where it thinks it needs to go first. It doesn't take light in near a bud sight and then put all that energy in to that particular area of the plant.

The reason you see the lower buds form last is because the plant will always put energy in to the outer part first because that is the part exposed and more likely to collect pollen, nothing to do with amount of light that area is getting. The plant wants to reproduce first and foremost. They are not concerned about the thickness of your bud.

So the more energy the plant can collect the better your lower sites will grow because it will have more energy to distribute. You're 100% reducing your yield when you take off a bunch of the large fan leaves. Why dont you grow 2 plants of same strain and remove leaves on

Yes but how can removing some of the shade leaves effect it negatively? There are always leaves being shaded directly below them and many more then the 1 big leaf? So your surface area for catching light is greater by removing leaves before flowering you are promoting new growth in the plant and it will focus that energy into growing flowers if flowering has begun rather then into producing more foliage as the root system is already established to maintain the growth on plant so pruning is only going to make it put more energy into growth rather then just maintaining leaves topping and stream lining is extremely effective and you are removing in some cases a lot more foliage then just a few shade leaves prunning should be done on any plant not just cannabis it promotes new and stronger growth

 

[StanlySpedowski]

Yes but how can removing some of the shade leaves effect it negatively? There are always leaves being shaded directly below them and many more then the 1 big leaf? So your surface area for catching light is greater by removing leaves before flowering you are promoting new growth in the plant and it will focus that energy into growing flowers if flowering has begun rather then into producing more foliage as the root system is already established to maintain the growth on plant so pruning is only going to make it put more energy into growth rather then just maintaining leaves topping and stream lining is extremely effective and you are removing in some cases a lot more foliage then just a few shade leaves prunning should be done on any plant not just cannabis it promotes new and stronger growth

Because those smaller leaves are farther away from the light and are collecting less energy. Those lower leaves at best have the same amount of surface area as the upper leaves.

So if you have 2 sets of leaves that are essentially the same amount of surface area but are collecting weaker light then they are taking in less energy. Less energy = less bud.

Also the light actually penetrates those upper leaves and passes through to the lower ones. So the upper leaves and lower leaves are both collecting energy even with the shading going on.

Why dont you just grow 2 plants of same strain and see for yourself.

 

[cann.i.bliss]

Because those smaller leaves are farther away from the light and are collecting less energy. Those lower leaves at best have the same amount of surface area as the upper leaves.

So if you have 2 sets of leaves that are essentially the same amount of surface area but are collecting weaker light then they are taking in less energy. Less energy = less bud.

Also the light actually penetrates those upper leaves and passes through to the lower ones. So the upper leaves and lower leaves are both collecting energy.

Why dont you just grow 2 plants of same strain and see for yourself.

They are directly under the shade leaves tho? And you basing you 'theory' on indoor grows dosent seem logical with outdoor grows and natural sunlight, I have tried many different grows and prunning plants early in growth I.e topping, main steaming etc increase yields a lot more I just can't see removing some shade leaves effecting the flower production negatively in anyway

 

[nova1992]

I can't wrap my head around how you had less of a yield by removing shade leaves? As all you would be doing is focussing more energy into the flowers and roots rather then sustaining bigger leaves? Topping works so well because you get multiple heads but it also spreads the plant letting precious light into the lower leaves can't understand how removing 10/15 bigger leaves to allow light acsess to 40-50 lower leaves can effect your yield negatively? I have always had much greater sucsess by prunning

Stanly is 100% correct. Stop thinking about buds and focus on the soil and leaves. You want healthy soil and as many green healthy leaves as possible. Marijuana is not concerned with bud production, its concerned with pollen collection. The outermost of the plant also has the highest amount of growth hormones so of course the buds will be larger. Stop cuttin leaves off and you will see what we are saying